Two (Countdown Book 5)

Chapter 8

I awoke the next morning to the monotonous ringing of my phone. I just rolled over and pretended I hadn't heard it. However, Mackenzie answered it. I could hear her talking to Jess, and I knew that our time off was over. 

With a low groan, I forced myself to sit up, my body still aching from two days ago. Mackenzie gave me a small, almost sad smile, and I nodded and headed for the bathroom. I got ready quickly, and then we headed outside. 

We didn't have far to go. London was the hub for anomalies, meaning that most of the weird stuff happened here. As Mackenzie drove us over to Heathrow, I put in my earpiece, holstered my gun and sheathed my sword. 

When we were working, we were required to wear formal clothes, meaning a shirt, jacket and tie for me and a blouse for Mackenzie. We always had to have our badge on show and our gun was always on our right hip. Our car was a big, black SUV that was pretty much anonymous. 

We pulled up in the airport, and quickly got in using our badges. On the outside, there didn't appear to be any disturbance in the airport. I hoped that this meant that whoever was inside would be peaceful. Of course, knowing my luck, it'd be a fire breathing dragon.

We walked further into the airport, keeping our eyes peeled for anything that stuck out; old clothes, people who were confused, unusual accents. However, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Everyone was just going about the usual business that would be conducted at an airport. Everything seemed so... normal. 

Then, I saw them. 

Stood in the middle of the chaos that was the airport, stood three confused-looking teenagers. The oldest, a boy, couldn't have been older than fifteen. He had a smooth, trustworthy face, and a mess of black hair sprawled across his head. He was fairly tall, and built well for his age, wearing a plain black t-shirt, jeans and a brown leather jacket that was a bit too big for him. He seemed to be the leader of the group, immediately taking in his surroundings with keen brown eyes.

Stood next to him was the second oldest, a girl. She wasn't much younger than him, maybe a year. She had wavy red hair and brown eyes. She was pretty short, shorter than both of her companions. Her face looked young, scared.

Despite her youth, I recognised her immediately.

I nudged Mackenzie, my mouth hanging open in shock. Looking closer now, I recognised the youngest in the group, an eager twelve year old with messy brown hair and a pair of sunglasses sliding down his nose.

"Is that... ?" Mackenzie asked, staring in disbelief at the three young teenagers.

"I think so." I breathed. As the shock wore off, I realised that we had to get them out of here before they started to cause a scene. They all looked confused and scared, and I guessed that they hadn't come through the portal knowingly.

"Steve!" I called as we walked over, getting the oldest boy's attention. The other two turned to us as well, a look of protectiveness on their faces.

"Who are you?" the oldest, Steve, asked.

We finally caught up to them, and seeing the two younger teens made me feel as though my heart was being clamped in a vice. My stomach did flips as Mackenzie nudged me, silently urging me to take the lead.

"We're, um..." I looked hopelessly to Mackenzie. "We're Elementals. Like you three."

The girl stiffened. "I don't know what you mean." I glanced at Mackenzie, and she nodded.

"Yes, you do, Scarlett." I said, taking a deep breath.

Her jaw dropped. "How do you know my name?"